Heinous
by DarkHououmon
Summary: A strange visitor has come to the Great Valley and with an ominous message: dinosaurs have been disappearing.
1. Pursued

Ducky screamed as she dodged sharp ends of the horns as the threehorn thrust his head into the ground, attempting to spear her. There was a sickening crack as one of the horns broke under the pressure, and blood spewed from the opening in the horn. The threehorn stopped momentarily, bellowing in pain, before he resumed his chase after Ducky.

Ducky looked ahead and saw a big pile of rocks against a cliff. She looked behind her and noticed the threehorn was quickly closing in. She ran as fast as her small legs could carry her and climbed up onto the rocks. Once she was on top, she pressed herself as far back against the wall as she could. She looked down as the threehorn attempted to climb up after her. She couldn't help but be confused. What was wrong with this threehorn? She had never seen this kind of aggression from a threehorn, save for Cera's father, and even he didn't go this far.

"Why are you doing this?" Ducky worked up the courage to talk to the threehorn. "You are not a sharptooth, no, no, no."

But instead of responding, the threehorn simply bellowed at her and continued to attempt to climb up. Ducky gasped and started to move along side the cliff sideways, being careful not to let her feet slip on the very narrow edge she was now standing on. Making painstakingly slow progress, she managed to put some distance between her and the marauding dinosaur.

The threehorn was relentless. In his constant efforts to climb up the slippery pile, he managed to get close enough to snap his beak at Ducky. The action was so sudden it took Ducky by surprise and she stumbled on her next step. Her foot missed its target and she found herself rolling across the side of the cliff.

"Oof!" Ducky hit the ground and shook her head. She looked over and saw the threehorn was closing in on her. Screaming, she quickly got up and tried to run, but the threehorn placed his foot on her tail and stopped her in her tracks.

The threehorn spoke his first words since he began the chase. "You're not going anywhere."

"Help!" Ducky called out.

"Who are you yelling for? There is no one out here, swimmer. You should have stayed in your pitiful valley." The threehorn said.

Ducky started to shake in fear. She had been with her friends not so long ago. She had become separated and ultimately ran into this fellow. She thought he would help her find her friends, but instead he chased her into the Mysterious Beyond. Outside the walls, she doubt no one had heard her scream.

"You're not like any threehorn I've seen..." Ducky murmured. "...who are you?"

The threehorn narrowed his eyes. "That does not concern you. Now why don't you hold still so I can..."

"Leave her alone!" A voice suddenly rang out.

A second later, something large and tan slammed into the threehorn, knocking him completely off Ducky. The little swimmer watched in astonishment as the threehorn landed on his back with a heavy thud. But she didn't have any time to take in what just happened as she felt herself suddenly lifted into the air by a large hand and the ground beneath started to move really fast as her savior started to run away from the threehorn.

Ducky looked up to see who had rescued her. Her eyes widened. "Ms. Maia? What are you doing?"

Ms. Maia looked down with a stern look. "Saving you, of course! What did you think I was going to do? Leave you there?"

Ducky didn't answer her question. She looked behind her to see the threehorn was catching up. Ducky let out another scream and clung to Ms. Maia's arm.

Ms. Maia smirked. "Don't worry, child. That threehorn isn't fast enough to catch up to me."

Ducky's eyes widened again. "I think you spoke too soon..." She pointed forward.

Up ahead was a large wall. Ms. Maia suddenly came to a halt, and looked up. She then turned around and saw the threehorn charging forward, his horns lowered. After setting Ducky back on the ground, Ms. Maia took position in front of the swimmer and stomped the ground with one foot and let out a roar.

The threehorn didn't stop and made contact with the crestless swimmer. Ms. Maia quickly grabbed onto the long brow horn with one hand and the side of the frill with the other. She began to push the threehorn back, using all the strength that she had in her.

Ducky looked on in horror as she watched Ms. Maia take on the voracious threehorn. Of all the dinosaurs in the Great Valley, Ms. Maia was the last dinosaur she thought would come and save her. And it seemed she was losing. The threehorn looked much stronger and he was certainly proving it, having pushed Ms. Maia a couple inches backwards while she barely managed to make him move at all.

Worried, Ducky started to walk up towards the two fighting dinosaurs. Not the wisest thing to do, but she couldn't help herself. "Ms. Maia...? Do you need help?"

"Get out of here, child!" Ms. Maia snapped at her, startling her. "Run!"

"But..what about you..?" Ducky asked, reaching a hand out towards the crestless swimmer. She silently wished she could do something to help.

Ms. Maia suddenly struck Ducky with her thick tail, knocking her a couple feet back. "I said get out of here! I can handle myself, but you are just a child! Get out of here while you still can!"

Ducky picked herself off the ground and glanced back at Ms. Maia. Although she wished she could do something, she trusted Ms. Maia's words that she can take care of herself. Ducky turned around and headed towards a small opening that she could fit through. She paused in front of the tunnel and looked back at Ms. Maia one last time. "Don't worry. I will go get help. Yep, yep, yep." With that, she disappeared into the tunnel.

Once she was certain that Ducky was indeed gone, Ms. Maia released the threehorn and immediately sidestepped, allowing the dinosaur to fall forward and into the hard ground. Before the threehorn had time to get up, Ms. Maia swatted him with her tail, nearly breaking one of his front legs. A large bruise slowly began to form where she had struck.

The threehorn groaned in pain and looked up at the crestless swimmer. "Why do you risk your life for the little swimmer? Do you care about her?"

Ms. Maia narrowed her eyes. "No...but I'd rather die than allow an innocent child to be killed by a monster like you." Ms. Maia couldn't help it. Even though she didn't like Ducky, her maternal instincts were strong, and it compelled her to save Ducky's life. She couldn't just let the little swimmer die.

"That can be arranged..." A voice spoke from behind.

Suddenly, Ms. Maia felt an arm slink around her neck and she felt her head behind pulled to one side. Before she had time to react, she felt a single, sharp claw press against her neck. The mysterious dinosaur made a quick motion with his arm, driving the claw clean across Ms. Maia's throat. Then, he released her.

Blood spurting from the deep gash in her neck, Ms. Maia slumped to the ground. As she lay there bleeding swiftly, she felt sky water hitting her body and noticed it had gotten noticeably darker. Weakly, she looked up towards her killer. Despite the darkness, she seemed to recognize who, or what, her killer was. Her eyes widened. "H-How..." But she never finished her sentence. She quickly bled to death and her body went limp.

The threehorn slowly climbed onto his feet and limped towards the mysterious dinosaur. "I have done what your leader asked of me. Where is my end of the deal?"

The mysterious dinosaur chuckled. "Excuse me? You did none of the killing. As you remember, my leader wanted you to kill a Great Valley dinosaur and deliver it to him. You did not do the killing. I did."

"I at least tried! That counts for something, doesn't it?" The threehorn said. "Why, if it weren't for me weakening that pathetic crestless swimmer, you wouldn't have a body to take back!"

The mysterious dinosaur reached towards the ground beside himself and held out a couple small, orange-colored treesweets. They were extremely rare in this part of the world. "I don't think you really deserve this. You couldn't even dispose of a little child..." He tossed the treesweets towards the threehorn. "But I suppose your little effort counts for something."

The threehorn immediately gobbled up the treesweets and licked his beak. "You're darn right it does! He said in an arrogant fashion."

"If you're quite done gloating, carry this dinosaur back to my leader." The mysterious dinosaur said. "You are big enough."

"Oh all right." The threehorn said as he pushed the lifeless leafeater onto his back.

As the two dinosaurs started to make the trek back from where ever they came from, they didn't notice a flyer standing in the shadows, looking at the scene in horror. After a few moments, the figure slowly moved out of the shadows, their eyes never moving from the retreating dinosaurs. The little light that remained barely made the figure out to be Rinkus. Standing next to him was another flyer, Sierra, who eyed the scene with a calm expression.

"What just happened?" Rinkus asked, holding his tail nervously.

"Who cares?" Sierra said as he spread his wings. "Let's just leave. I hate being near the Great Valley. Too many memories of those little brats."

Rinkus was hesitant. "Shouldn't we..tell someone about this?"

"Why? What have they ever done for us?" Without saying another word, Sierra took off into the air.

Rinkus glanced at the Great Valley for a couple seconds before reluctantly turning away and taking off after Sierra.


	2. Delivery

"Do you see her yet?" Littlefoot called out.

Petrie, who was flying overhead, looked from side to side. "Me no see her yet!"

Littlefoot frowned, worried. He and the others had been trying to find Ducky for a while now. She had disappeared earlier, but he didn't know why. It wasn't like Ducky to just run off like that. Where could she have gone to?

"What about you, Guido?" Chomper, who was standing next to Littlefoot, called out.

Guido circled around, arms outstretched, as he searched for Ducky. "Not a thing!"

Littlefoot bit his lip. Thinking of a different plan, he turned to Chomper. "Can you find Ducky with your sniffer?"

Chomper shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Littlefoot. But I'm still recovering from flowing sniffer. He wiped his nose with one hand and looked at the clear water-like material on his hand. This stuff blocks my ability to smell any smells. I can't find anyone with this sniffer."

Littlefoot let out a sad groan. He should have known better than to ask Chomper for help at this time. After inhaling some yellow puffies a few hours ago, he had been sneezing and his sniffer got red and swollen and clear liquid dripped from his nose. He was told Chomper would recover but it would take a while.

While Petrie and Guido continued to search the skies, Littlefoot, Cera, Spike, Ruby, and Chomper continued their ground search. They split from each other to cover more ground.

Ruby walked over to a log and peered inside. "Ducky! Are you in there?"

Cera noticed a low rock with a small space underneath. She looked underneath. "If you're in there, Ducky, come on out!"

"Ducky?" Chomper pulled back a thick bush. Not here.

Spike walked up to some tall grass and chomped away at the vegetation with his jaws, easily creating an opening in the patch. He looked inside and let out a moan of despair.

Littlefoot glanced over at Spike, noticing his sad expression. "She's not in there either, Spike?" Upon seeing Spike shake his head, Littlefoot started to become even more worried. "She's got to be here somewhere!"

Ruby walked up to Littlefoot. "Do you think we should tell Ducky's mom about this?"

"No way!" Cera said before Littlefoot could say anything. "If they found out we lost Ducky, we'll probably be grounded!"

"I'd be more worried about Chomper. You know how Cera's dad is with sharpteeth. He'll blame the Ducky's disappearance on him." Littlefoot explained. Cera shot him a look. "What? It's the truth."

"Hmph!" Cera turned her head away without another word.

Just then, there was a loud scream. The groundwalker dinosaurs looked up to find the source of the scream.

"Did you hear that?" Ruby asked.

Then another scream came, followed by the sounds of rocks falling. This time the scream was loud enough for them to recognize who it was.

"Ducky!" They shouted in unison.

The group took off running towards the source. Petrie and Guido flew out ahead of the group. They soon came to a dead end, coming face to face with a wall. They looked up and saw Ducky rolling down the slope. Horrified expressions came over their faces.

"Ducky! Me catch you!" Petrie dove in as fast as he could. He gripped onto Ducky's tail and started to flap his wings rapidly. But the momentum of Ducky's fall caused Petrie to fall down with her despite his efforts.

"Don't worry, guys! I gotcha!" Guido glided underneath the two falling children. He landed on the ground and opened his arms wide.

Seconds later, Ducky and Petrie slammed into the glider. For a couple moments, Guido managed to hold them up, arms shaky. Then he collapsed, landing on his back. The others quickly moved towards the trio.

Groaning, Petrie lifted his head and said, "Thank you."

"Oh yes, yes, thank you." Ducky said.

Guido lifted up his head and said, "D-Don't mention it, guys." His head fell back to the ground.

"Ducky! Are you all right?" Littlefoot asked as he lowered his head to help Petrie, Guido, and Ducky back onto their feet. When Ducky nodded her head, Littlefoot smiled, feeling relieved that she was all right.

Once the three were back on their feet, Spike rushed towards Ducky and gave her several licks on the face. Ducky chuckled and wrapped her arms around the spiketail.

"Where have you been?" Ruby asked. "We were worried about you!"

"Yeah! Why did you sneak off like that?" Cera said.

Upon seeing Cera, Ducky's eyes grew wide with fear momentarily. "No reason.."

Cera's face got a puzzled expression. "What?"

Ducky immediately shook her head. "Oh, nothing! Then she let out a gasp. We must go find the grownups! Oh yes yes!"

The others looked at each other briefly and looked back at Ducky.

"Why?" Littlefoot asked.

"It's Ms. Maia! She's in trouble!"

Elsewhere, out in the Mysterious Beyond, a group of eggstealers were making their way towards the Great Valley. One was further out ahead and showing more enthusiasm about going towards the valley while the other was hanging back a tad.

"Ozzy..." The lagging eggstealer said. "Are you sure you want to go back here?"

"Well of course I'm sure!" Ozzy responded, licking his beak. "There's so many eggs, Strut. We'd feast forever!"

Strut tilted his head. He couldn't understand Ozzy's obsession with eggs. "But couldn't we pick a safer target to eat like green food?"

Ozzy looked at his brother with a disgusted expression. "No! We are eggstealers, not leaflickers!"

Strut shook his head. "Just because we are eggstealers doesn't mean we have to eat eggs. We are halfteeth." He glanced at the valley's walls and shuddered, remembering what had happened the last time they were there. "And besides, this place gives me the creeps. Remember the sharpteeth?"

"They're long gone!" Ozzy said. "Good thing we found that mud pit!"

Strut grimaced. "And it smelled horrible too."

Ozzy said, "At least it covered our body smell!"

As the two eggstealers were talking, a pair of yellow eyes peered at them through a shadowed place against the cliffs. It watched them intently, its body motionless. The only sound that it emitted was its own breathing, sounding raspy. It moved quietly along the side of the cliff, careful to stick to the shadows. It took a step forward and raised its head up.

The eggstealers drew closer to the valley. And as they got closer, so did the shadowy figure. When the two eggstealers stopped at one of the smaller entrances to the Great Valley, the figure seemed to take this chance and moved in quickly behind them. It got just a couple feet away and quickly slowed its pace. Again the only sound coming from it were its harsh breathing.

Strut's eyes went went when he noticed another shadow on the ground. He felt hot breath hitting on his body and slowly turned to his brother. Judging from Ozzy's expression, he had also noticed there was someone else out here with them. "Who is that?"

Ozzy slowly turned his head around to see who was there. He suddenly screamed. "Run!"

Strut quickly looked behind him. Upon seeing the mysterious figure, he screamed, "Sharptooth!"

The two eggstealers quickly ran towards the tunnel. Unfortunately they ran in at the same time and were stuck for a few moments. But they quickly managed to get unstuck and squeeze through the opening.

The stranger, who turned out to be a horned clawhand, walked up to the tunnel and examined it. It was too small for it to fit through. It snorted and turned around. It glanced back at the wall, its expression more perplexed than angry. It scratched its head in confusion and started to walk around the outside of the valley, looking for any larger openings it could squeeze through.

The horned clawhand craned its head upwards and noticed a large opening higher up on an overhanging cliff. Narrowing its eyes with determination, it began to climb up the steep slope, using its claws for traction. It nearly fell down a few times, but it managed to reach the top. It shook its body a couple times and then ran through the opening.

It seemed to take a moment to be sure it was in the right place. Then it quickly ran off into the distance.

The threehorn that had attacked Ducky earlier dragged Ms. Maia's body into a cave. He was now in a wide open area, covered with trees and grass, but absolutely no surrounding walls. There were some tall rocky hills, some much larger than others, but no protective wall like the Great Valley. And yet in spite of this, there were a lot of leafeaters in the area, happily munching on green food.

The threehorn let go of the crestless swimmer's body and took a step forward. He slowly lowered his body to the ground. "I have brought what you asked of me." He said. Up ahead, he could see a shadowy figure and immediately recognized it as the leader. "I hope you are pleased."

"Oh yes, I am pleased." A feminine voice coming from the shadowy dinosaur said. However, she didn't get up from her spot. "Well done, Tric."

Tric said, "Thank you, Rona."

The dinosaur, Rona, chuckled softly. Still not moving from her spot, she said, "Of course, I was more interested in a young Great Valley dinosaur. But this crestless swimmer will do just fine. I must say I am rather impressed you managed to take her down."

Tric didn't know whether he should take this as a compliment or as an insult. Either way, he didn't want to anger Rona, so he remained quiet.

"Now for your next task."

Tric's eyes widened slightly. "But I thought killing a Great Valley dinosaur was all you wanted me to do..."

"True, but I changed my mind. This doesn't only benefit me..it benefits you." Rona explained. "If you can complete this task, you're ready to truly be a part of my group."

"All right then...what do you want?" Tric asked.

"Bring me back a Great Valley sharptooth." Rona said.

Tric's eyes widened in confusion. "But, Rona..there are no sharpteeth in the Great Valley!"

Rona chuckled. "According to the rumors, there is. Oh yep..yep..yep..."


	3. Unwelcome

Ozzy and Strut continued to run along the tunnel. After a couple more moments, they finally stopped and rested, leaning against the tunnel walls. Their breathing was slightly raspy from the running and from them panicking.

Ozzy spoke, "Is..Is it still..following us..?"

Strut looked behind him. "No, Ozzy. I guess it couldn't fit through the opening."

Quickly recovering from the shock of seeing a sharptooth so up close, Ozzy started to walk calmly down the tunnel. "Good. Now let's make our way into the Great Valley. I'm starving and I want to get my claws on one of those delicious eggs!"

Strut sighed. "Well you can go on and do that. I'm going to get some greenfood and..."

Immediately he was cut off by Ozzy. "Oh no you don't! Ozzy gripped his brother by the neck loosely. No family member of mine is going to behave like those lowly sapsuckers!"

Strut pointed at Ozzy. "You mean the leafeaters?"

"What's the difference?" Ozzy said. "It means the same thing!" Strut opened his mouth to speak, but Ozzy quickly clamped his hand around his mouth, keeping it shut. He looked up as if he had heard something. "Be quiet! I thought I heard something."

The two eggstealers remained motionless for a while, looking around the tunnel to try to find the source of whatever Ozzy had just heard. A few times they looked behind themselves to make sure there wasn't anyone sneaking up on them. The tunnel had grown very quiet with the only sounds they could hear being their own breathing.

After a while, Strut freed his mouth and said, "I don't hear anything."

Ozzy scratched his head. "I could have sworn I heard footsteps. Maybe I was just imagining things. Come on!" He broke into a run with Strut following close behind.

As they disappeared, a shadow appeared on the wall. As it drew larger, the distinct shape of a flyer emerged, the long beak with jagged teeth visible even in the shadows. Then a moment later, a second shadow appeared, looking slightly taller than the first shadow. After a couple more seconds, voices could be heard, talking in soft tones.

"Why do we have to go this way?" Said a voice.

"Because we don't want to alert the grownups that we're here!" Said another voice.

"But we want to go the elders anyway, so why not..." The other voice tried to say.

"Are you nuts?! They'd chase us out as soon as they get the chance!" Said the other voice. Finally the figures stepped from the shadows, revealing themselves to be Sierra and Rinkus. Sierra shook his head. "I still can't believe you convinced me to come here! If I so much as see one of those little whiny brats again, I'll....!"

Rinkus took a step forward. "Maybe we won't run into them."

Sierra growled. "Fat chance!" He still couldn't believe Rinkus wanted to tell the elders about what they had seen. What had gotten into him? Rinkus didn't care so much before. Why is he suddenly worried now? Sierra had thought of asking, but thought he'd get a stupid answer and decided not to question it.

"By the way," Rinkus said, holding up a finger. "Did you hear something earlier? I think there's someone else in this tunnel with us."

Sierra said, "The only thing I can hear is you!"

"Hmm..maybe I am just hearing things..." Rinkus murmured to himself.

"Well let's get a move on! You wanted to get into the valley so badly. Let's go."

With that, the two flyers continued on their trek through the tunnel.

"That is crazy talk!" Topsy shouted, glaring at the group of children.

Littlefoot and the others had arrived at the watering hole next to the thundering falls, where their family members were at, bathing, eating, or getting something to drink. Ducky had just explained what had happened. Topsy's reaction didn't surprise anyone.

"But it's the truth! It is! It is!" Ducky insisted.

Topsy narrowed his eyes. "No threehorn would act in such a manner! I'd understand if it was a domehead. You know how irrationally they behave."

A domehead that was standing nearby looked offended. "Hey!"

Topsy shook his head. "But I know for a fact that no threehorn would behave in such a despicable manner!"

"Well you seemed to act in a similar way when we first found out about the tiny longnecks!" Tria, who was standing next to Topsy, said, glaring in his direction. "If I recall correctly, you wanted to seal the poor things up in their own underground home, and for what? Eating treesweets?"

"I made up for it, didn't I?" Topsy said back at the female threehorn. "And at least I didn't try to put a horn through them!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did." Kosh the clubtail said, turning his head away.

"And besides, my Ducky wouldn't just make up these lies." Ms. Swimmer said. "If Ducky says there's a crazy threehorn out there, then there's a crazy threehorn out there. Whether or not you believe it, Mr. Threehorn, I'm not going to call my own daughter a liar."

Topsy growled. "I'm telling you, she must be.."

Grandpa Longneck took a few steps forward, putting himself between Cera's father and Ducky's mother. "Now, now. Let's not get into a big argument about this."

"Yes, I agree." Grandma Longneck lowered her head towards Ducky. "Now, where did you say Ms. Maia was?"

Ducky looked towards the great wall and pointed. "Out in the Mysterious Beyond, past Threehorn Peak."

"That means she's probably near where I got separated from my family." Ruby said. "Does that sound right, Ducky?"

Ducky shrugged. "I do not know. Oh no, no, no."

"Since it's only one threehorn, I'll go out myself and see what I can do to help Ms. Maia." Grandpa Longneck said. While a few dinosaurs nodded their heads, Topsy just looked away disapprovingly.

"It's a threehorn, so I should be the one to go!" Topsy said sternly.

"But you heard Ducky. This threehorn sounds more tenacious than even you!" Grandpa Longneck exclaimed. "Do you think you could handle him on your own?"

"Well," Topsy said, stammering slightly. "Yes, of course I can!"

"Well I.." Grandpa Longneck started to say, but stopped as a shadow fall across him briefly.

Then someone spoke from behind. "Well, well..I wouldn't be going out there if I were you. There's nothing there to find."

The dinosaurs all looked to see the source of the voice. Immediately, their reactions were negative. Many of them recognized the flyer as one of the flyers Pterano had been with. Ducky's mom immediately picked up her daughter protectively, glaring at the flyer. Many of the other dinosaurs merely glared at the flyer, some moving their children back.

Tria tilted her head. "Who is this?"

"I'll tell you who he is. He's nothing but trouble!" Topsy took a few steps forward. "What are you doing here, flyer?"

Sierra chuckled. "Well now. Is that anyway to treat an unexpected guest?"

Rinkus flew in from behind and grabbed onto the branch next to Sierra. "Don't agitate them, Sierra."

"Why have you come back to the Great Valley?" Grandpa Longneck said calmly, although his expression was stern.

"I didn't want to come, but Rinkus here wanted to." Sierra pointed at the pink flyer. He glanced in Ducky's direction. "And no, we didn't come back to take you again, if that's what you are thinking."

"Then why have you come back?" Grandma Longneck asked.

"You aren't going to find that crestless swimmer anywhere." Rinkus said, holding his tail with one hand. "Because she's dead."

Silence fell upon the group of dinosaurs. Some looked at each other with shocked expressions. Others were murmuring to each other, some shaking their heads slowly.

"Poor Ms. Maia.." Ducky said softly.

Ms. Swimmer set her daughter on the ground near her friends. "Why don't you kids run along and play? The rest of the grownups and I will talk to these flyers and find out what happened."

As the children slowly walked away from the watering hole, the adult dinosaurs moved closer to the branch where Sierra and Rinkus were perched and began talking to them. Littlefoot glanced behind him, looking as if he wanted to stay and listen in. But he immediately turned around and ran to catch up with his friends.

After they were a good distance away, Chomper started to sniff the air. "What's that smell?"

Cera stopped in her tracks. "Whatever it is, it's not me."

"It smells kind of like..a water scaly." Chomper explained. "But I never smelled it away from the water before." Chomper sniffed a few more times before taking off. "It's coming from this direction!"

Immediately, the others followed Chomper, jumping over twigs and rocks as they did so. Cera tripped over a vine, but immediately got back up again and ran to catch up with the others. Petrie and Guido flew up into the air and scanned the area with their eyes. Chomper stopped in front of a thick collection of vines. Using his jaws, he tore them apart and continued on ahead. Suddenly he slammed into something soft and fell back down. The sudden stop caused the others to frantically try to stop themselves. But they didn't manage to do it in time and slammed into Chomper, piling up on top of each other on the ground.

Cera was the first one to get out from the pile. "What's with you? Why did you do that?" But Chomper wasn't looking at Cera. His eyes, widened, were staring at something just in front of him.

"What's wrong, Chomper?" Littlefoot asked. Before Chomper could answer, Littlefoot looked out in front and saw what Chomper was staring at. His eyes went went. "Oh no!"

The other children, who had gotten up off the ground, all immediately took notice to what had startled Chomper and Littlefoot. There, standing only about a foot away, holding a water scaly in its hand, was a sharptooth, specifically a horned clawhand, not large enough to take on their parents but certainly large enough to take them on.

"Run, you guys!" Chomper said. "I'll try to hold him off!"

"But what about you?" Ruby said.

"That sharptooth's too big for you to handle on your own!" Littlefoot said.

"Just get out of here! I'll be fine!" Chomper said urgently. The others hesitated at first, but they followed Chomper's orders and ran away to hide. Chomper bared his teeth and growled at the sharptooth challengingly. But surprisingly, the sharptooth didn't growl back. Instead, it took a step forward and held out the water scaly to Chomper. And as Chomper looked up, he could have sworn he saw the sharptooth smiling.

(Hello.) said the sharptooth.


	4. Message

Littlefoot ran around a large tree and hid behind there. Once the others had joined in, he said, "Do you think he followed us?"

"I don't see anything." Ruby said as she used her longneck to peer out from behind the tree.

"Should we go tell the grownups?" Ducky suggested.

"They have enough to worry about with those two evil flyers around." Cera said, narrowing her eyes. "Besides, I'm sure Chomper can handle himself."

The others seemed to agree with her, but Littlefoot couldn't help but feel worried. It had gotten eerily quiet since they ran away. All he had heard was Chomper growling at the other sharptooth, and then silence. Perhaps Chomper had managed to chase away the sharptooth, but then, why hadn't he come back? He wondered if the sharptooth had gotten him.

"We should go back." Littlefoot said as he walked out from behind the tree.

"But Chomper told us to get away." Ruby said.

Littlefoot looked back at her. "But what if something terrible happened? Didn't Chomper's parents tell you to make sure he remained safe?" Ruby opened her mouth to speak but Littlefoot cut her off. "How do you think they'd feel if they found out you didn't keep your promise?"

"Chomper's a sharptooth, Littlefoot!" Cera said. "They don't need as much protection as we do."

"But Chomper's only a kid, like us." Littlefoot, turning around to face his friends.

Petrie spoke up, "Cera right. Chomper has sharp teeth he can use. Him have strong bite."

Ruby nodded. "Strong enough to break stone teeth clean off."

Guido looked shocked. "He can do that?" He glanced over at Petrie, who gave him a single nod. "Wow..remind me not to get on his bad side." He chuckled nervously.

Cera's eyes narrowed slightly. "You see, Littlefoot? If anything, it's going to be that other sharptooth that's going to be in trouble, not Chomper."

But Littlefoot still wasn't convinced. It was true that Chomper did have a strong bite, but that wasn't saying much when his opponent was a lot bigger than he was. Before Chomper would even land a bite, the sharptooth could easily snag Chomper in its jaws and shake him until he died.

"Well I'm going back there. If you guys don't want to come, you can stay here." With that, Littlefoot turned and ran back to where Chomper was.

The remaining children looked at each other, unsure of what to do. They wondered if they should chase after Littlefoot, if they should tell the adults, or if they should remain where they were until Littlefoot and Chomper returned.

"Oh dear..I do not know what to do, no no no." Ducky said as she climbed off of Spike's head.

Cera shook her head. "If Littlefoot wants to get himself into trouble, let him! He might learn a thing or two from this."

Petrie looked at her with a shocked expression. "What you say, Cera? We can't let Littlefoot go there by himself!" With that, he took off into the air and flew after Littlefoot.

Cera seemed surprised by Petrie's sudden show of courage. "Since when was he ever brave?" But the others ignored her response.

Spike frowned momentarily. Then he kicked at the dirt. Ducky quickly climbed back on top of him and, as soon as she did so, Spike broke into a run. The spiketail's sudden charge took the others by surprise, quickly stepping out of his way as he ran towards where Littlefoot and Petrie had gone off to. Ruby and Guido glanced at each other and nodded.

"Wait for us, guys!" Guido said as he jumped into the air.

"We are coming too!" Ruby said as she broke into a run.

Cera remained behind for a few moments, shaking her head in disgust. But after a while, her initial feeling faded away and, against what she considered to be her better judgement, she chased off after the others. "Me too!"

When they caught up with Littlefoot and Petrie, they were frozen in place. Petrie was standing on Littlefoot's head, eyes glued on something straight ahead. They were hiding behind a bush, watching something. Curious, the others approached cautiously, peering through the bush to see what they were looking at. What they saw took them by surprise.

Chomper was sitting on the ground, making a lot of squeaks and chirps, and they knew he was speaking sharptooth. Next to him was a partially eaten water scaly. In front of him was the horned clawhand, who had also sat down. When it talked, it made relatively low guttural sounds similar to what they'd hear from a bellydragger.

What struck them as oddest of all was that the sharpteeth looked like they were having a normal conversation, like they'd see with the adult dinosaurs of the Great Valley. Neither side was showing any kind of aggression, and, judging from how the horned clawhand appeared to be laughing, the horned clawhand seemed almost playful.

After finishing another sentence in sharptooth, Chomper looked towards the bush and noticed his friends there. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, you're safe." He gestured for them to come out.

The leafeaters glanced at each other nervously and hesitated to come out. After a while, Spike pushed his way through the brush and walked out into the open. He looked up at the sharptooth for a moment, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. But after a few seconds, his expression changed to happy.

Ducky chuckled. "It seems Spike trusts this sharptooth, yep, yep yep."

Although they still looked nervous, the other children walked out and stopped next to Chomper.

Cera frowned. "How do we know we can trust this sharptooth."

"He says he only eats water scalies and other water meats." Chomper explained. He pointed to the water scaly beside his foot. "He gave this to me as a gift."

Petrie said, "Why?"

"To show he's harmless." Chomper said.

"That's exactly what he wants you to think." Cera murmured softly.

Littlefoot nudged her roughly with one leg. "Cera, don't start." He looked back over in Chomper's direction. "Why has he come to the Great Valley? Did he say?"

Chomper shook his head. "No, not yet. He was just finishing telling me how he tried to get directions from a couple eggstealers, but they ran as soon as they saw him. He said he didn't know why they ran off without saying anything to him."

In response, the horned clawhand shrugged his shoulders and shook his head slowly. I don't know what they have to worry about anyway. Their horrible stench is enough to drive even the hungriest sharpteeth away. They'd probably think they were very ill or something.

Chomper chuckled and immediately translated, "And he says their smell alone would drive away any sharptooth."

This statement caused the kids to laugh briefly. But they quickly became serious again.

Littlefoot moved towards the horned clawhand nervously. "..are you sure he's safe to be around? His teeth look very big..."

Chomper nodded his head. "Don't worry. He said his kind don't eat other dinosaurs. They only eat water meat."

Littlefoot seemed a bit more relieved and he got a little closer to the sharptooth. Although it was clear the sharptooth didn't understand leafeater, Littlefoot spoke slowly. "Umm..hello..my name is Littlefoot and what is..." Before Littlefoot had time to finish, the sharptooth suddenly licked Littlefoot across the neck and face.

"He's tasting Littlefoot!" Cera exclaimed.

Chomper shook his head. "No, he's just saying hello. If he wanted to taste Littlefoot, he would have bitten him." He turned towards Littlefoot. "Oh and his name is Tator."

Ruby took a step forward. "Excuse me, but aren't you going to ask him why he's in the valley?"

Chomper nodded. He looked back at the sharptooth. "Why did you come to the Great Valley?"

Tator paused for a moment. I came for you.

Chomper frowned. "Me? Why?"

It's your parents. Tator said. Chomper's eyes grew wide. They're in trouble. And I'm afraid they are not the only ones in danger...

Back in the Mysterious Beyond, close to where Rona's plains home was, a blue female fastbiter was running across the floor, carrying something bloody in her jaws. She moved through a thick vegetated area before reaching a small nest area. She dropped the thing in her jaws and let out a couple chirps.

Almost immediately, a group of three small fastbiters, one green, one purple, and one blue, came stumbling out from the nest and immediately went for the meat. The mother sharptooth laid down on the ground as she watched her offspring gorge themselves on the meat she had given them.

The female fastbiter kept her head up and looked around for any signs of danger. Although this was her first brood, her instincts told her danger could be lurking around any corner. And she wasn't going to let her guard down, even if they were at the nesting site.

It didn't take her long to sense approaching danger. She immediately got into a protective posture in front of her babies. Although they were still very young, the babies seemed to sense something was wrong and they immediately laid low to the ground, as if to use their stripes to help themselves blend in. The mother looked around, her eyes narrowed and her teeth bared, trying to find what she had detected. But upon seeing nothing, she seemed o grew confused.

Just then, she heard her babies squealing and she whirled around to see what was going on. A horrified expression appeared on her long face as she saw a giant scaly nofooter wrap its tail around all three of her offspring and lift them high into the air.

Immediately, the fastbiter leaped into the air and used her hand claws to latch onto the scaly nofooter. She bite down hard onto the scales and skin, and she managed to drive one of her sickle claws into the body of the creature. Her babies continued to shriek in fear and instinctively began to bite as well, although their small teeth couldn't penetrate the skin.

Hissing loudly, the scaly nofooter bit down onto the mother's body and easily pulled her away. It released the fastbiter and let her fall onto the ground several feet below. It then turned and immediately started to flee the scene.

The mother fastbiter wasn't about to give up. She got back onto her feet and was about to leap again, but then howled in pain as something struck her in the side, something sharp. Several deep lacerations appeared on her right thigh and she fell back to the ground, blood seeping from the wounds. As she looked up, her eyes widened.

Standing in front of her was a leafeater, more specifically a sharptail. The sharptail's eyes narrowed as it stared down at the wounded sharptooth. "Now now..." it spoke in a masculine voice. "We can't have you doing that.. Don't want to make Rona upset, now do we?" The fastbiter tried to get up, but fell back down due to the pain.

The scaly nofooter noticed this and spoke in a feminine voice. "What shall we do with her?"

"Leave her. She's as good as dead." The sharptail responded. "Rona wanted a couple fastbiters alive."


End file.
